Free Starfish Sisters by J.C. Burke

known Ace was doing meal prep with Georgie
I might've come out of the bungalow earlier. That's
why Ace and Georgie were suddenly so cosy.
    'I ended up having to do lunch prep. Long story,'
Georgie dismissed me.
    I attempted to squeeze out a smile. 'Tell me?'
    'Okay.' Georgie shot me a glare. 'Settle down.'
    Sometimes she could read me better than I knew.
    'Megan cut her foot pretty bad. Micki went to help
and when she saw the blood she nearly passed out.
Seriously, she was green. I'm not exaggerating. She
cannot handle the sight of blood. Like, not at all.'
    'Hey, I'm pretty sure . . .' A memory was beginning
to stir in the very back of my mind. Something to do
with Micki's mum. 'I'm pretty sure I remember that
Micki's mum fell off a balcony. It was something like
that. I know Micki was there when it happened.'
    Georgie and Ace gasped. Ace wiggled up the bed
and leant in close to me. 'I was really young when it
happened. So I don't remember the details that clearly.
Except that it was really bad and Dad had to go up
there straightaway.'
    'I thought you said your dad didn't really know
Micki's dad?'
    Oops. I'd forgotten that.
    To make it worse, Georgie got in first. 'Oh, Reg and
Micki's dad are best friends, Ace. That's how come Kia
and Micki know each other.'
    'We don't know each other,' I snapped. 'I met her for
the first time two days ago.'
    'Yeah, whatever,' Ace said. Luckily for me, she was
more interested in the other story. 'So what happened
when Micki found her?'
    'Let's see.' There were little pieces that I knew. I just
wasn't sure how they fitted together. Anyway, a few
wrong facts didn't matter. It wasn't like Micki was ever
going to become our nearest and dearest and tell us the
real version. Besides, she was asleep, she'd never know. 'I
think they had friends to stay but everyone was asleep.'
    Ace and Georgie were hanging on to every word
and I wanted to keep it that way. Not go back to them
being all buddy-buddy and leaving me out.
    'Micki was only three, but she was the one who
heard the scream and then the thud of her mum's body
landing on the concrete.'
    'That's so awful.' Ace grabbed onto my elbow.
    'She didn't die instantly. I think she died in hospital
a few days later.'
    'Poor Micki,' Georgie muttered. 'No wonder she
can't stand the sight of blood.'
    Suddenly I had a memory of my mum on the phone
to my aunty in Canada. She was sitting on the floor of
the kitchen crying. When she spoke, her words came
out gurgly. I still remember thinking it sounded like she
was drowning. 'Poor baby. They can't get the blood off
the driveway,' Mum cried. 'Reg has been scrubbing and
scrubbing but it won't come off.'
    I didn't tell them that bit. Instead, I said, 'Micki and
her dad moved from that place straightaway.'
    'I don't blame them.' Ace's eyes were glassy with
tears. 'And I thought I had a hard life 'cause my parents
got divorced when I was ten.'
    'Hey, you know what I was thinking today?' Georgie
piped up. 'We should try and raise some money so we
can buy Micki a new board. She's only got one.'
    'Hey, yeah.' Ace sat up straight. 'And it's pretty
dinged up too.'
    'As if we can do that,' I said, maybe a bit too fast. But
I hadn't told them the story so they could form the
Micki Sympathy Society, and that's what it looked like
they were doing.
    'Well, I was thinking we could do something with
our bikinis.' Georgie was beginning to organise. Next
she'd be writing lists. 'Maybe selling them or, or –'
    'How about a fashion parade?' Ace suggested. 'I
model all the time.'
    'Yeah!' Georgie looked stoked. 'What do you reckon,
Kia? You'd be into that, wouldn't you? It'd be a way to
get your designs out there and that's what you want.
It's a win-win.'
    It was so not a win-win!
    'It'd take a while to organise a fashion parade.' I
cautiously threw the words out. 'And Ace, aren't you
only allowed to wear Ocean Pearl? Wouldn't that be
like breaking the contract?'
    'As if they'd find out,' Georgie snapped.
    'Anyway, that's